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Source: Environmental Leader.com

Big River Fish Corporation has acquired a liquid food composter machine from Power Knot LLC to digest waste fish on site and save sending the waste to the landfill.

The LFC-200 (pictured) reduces the carbon footprint of the company by over 800,000 lb of CO2e per year and has a payback of less than two years, Big River Fish says.

BRF is situated a few miles from both the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. The company processes Asian carp that is caught in these rivers for sale in the US and China. Although many shipments from BRF comprise whole fish, much fish is processed at the facility. BRF sells the fillets, leaving the head and guts as waste.
Continue reading Liquid Composter Saves Fish Company 800,000 lb CO2e

Source: Environmental Protection.com

According to a new study, pesticides currently used in treatment processes for tap water could be to blame for food allergies that afflict 15 million Americans.

In a new study published in the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (ACAAI), high levels of dichlorophenol, a chemical that is used to chlorinate water and in pesticides, have been found to create food allergies when found in the human body.

“Our research shows that high levels of dichlorophenol-containing pesticides can possibly weaken food tolerance in some people, causing food allergy,” said allergist Elina Jerschow, M.D., M.Sc., ACAAI fellow and lead study author. “This chemical is commonly found in pesticides used by farmers and consumer insect and weed control products, as well as tap water.”

During the study, 10,348 participants in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Survey, 2,211 allowed their dichlorophenol levels to be measured from their urine. Of those tested, 411 participants had some form of food allergy and 1,016 had an environmental allergy.

“Other dichlorophenol sources, such as pesticide-treated fruits and vegetables, may play a greater role in causing food allergy,” said Dr. Jerschow.

Food allergy symptoms can range from a mild rash to a life-threatening reaction known as anaphylaxis. The ACAAI advises everyone with a known food allergy to always carry two doses of allergist prescribed epinephrine. A delay in using epinephrine is common in severe food allergic reaction deaths.

EPA has released the list of roughly 10,000 chemicals that it anticipates will eventually undergo screening for potential developmental risks as part of its Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP), following repeated calls from the agency’s Inspector General (IG) seeking such a list.

The list and accompanying white paper follow requests from the IG last year that EPA estimate the number of chemicals that should undergo EDSP screening, in order to better manage the long-stalled and often controversial program. Congress mandated EPA create such a program in the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act, but it was not until 2009 that EPA issued the first test orders to chemicals to undergo EDSP screening.

The list and white paper represent an early step in the “EDSP Comprehensive Management Plan” the agency released last summer, where it indicated that it would issue in fiscal year 2013 its long-delayed list of drinking water contaminants it plans to test. The list of chemicals are to be addressed during the five-year time frame of the EDSP management plan. EPA drafted the plan in response to critical IG reports last year. A May 2011 IG report faulted the agency for taking longer than a decade to create the screening program and blamed part of the program’s delays on mismanagement, arguing that there was no management plan for the program’s operation.
Continue reading EPA Lists Chemicals For Endocrin Disruptor Screening Program

Great Lakes Echo.org

The emerging threat of pharmaceuticals, everyday chemicals and personal care products in drinking water may be the most difficult that water treatment plants have faced.

Lake Michigan takes 99 years to “turn over,” meaning chemicals that entered the lake a century ago may only just be exiting, the Alliance for the Great Lakes reported just this week.

The report says that surface water in Lake Michigan contains six of 20 “priority” chemicals, or emerging contaminants identified by environmental engineers from Michigan State University. They include flame retardants and a cholesterol-lowering drug.

After treatment, only a fire retardant remained in ready-to-drink water.

Experts say that membrane bioreactors may remove some pharmaceuticals while treating wastewater, but they cannot catch all of the diverse medicines.
Continue reading Pharmaceuticals difficult to treat in drinking water